A rural utility in the Lafayette area aims to slowly reduce the amount of energy it gets from its power supplier.
More rural electric cooperatives around the country are looking to cut ties with their suppliers in favor of cheaper electric bills for customers and the flexibility to do what they want. That includes individual co-ops in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Carolina.
Tipmont Rural Electric Membership Cooperative (REMC) plans to slowly phase out the amount of power it gets from Wabash Valley Power Alliance.
One of the benefits of these rural cooperatives is that customers get more of a say in what their utility does — including where it gets its power. But many of them are also part of larger generation and transmission cooperatives — which help REMCs get power and other resources. Contracts with these companies can be long and difficult to get out of.
It took Tipmont seven years to end its contract with WVPA — an agreement had to be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Tipmont Communications Director Rob Ford explains why the utility decided to leave.
"Number one, the rates that were being offered oftentimes weren't competitive with the open wholesale power market. And number two, that all requirements contract had us paying for a lot of things that we didn't necessarily need," he said.
Ford said buying more power from the wholesale energy market will help the utility access cheaper and potentially cleaner power for customers. The utility hired NextEra Energy to help them navigate the open market — something Ford said will be a learning curve for Tipmont.
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Tipmont also hopes to use excess power from rooftop solar and electric school buses to make the utility more reliable.
“We would be able to draw the energy off those school buses around 5, 6 o'clock, use that to lower our peak demand and then the school buses would charge back overnight and be ready to go at 6, 7 a.m. in the morning,” Ford said.
Wabash Valley Power Alliance serves 21 electric cooperatives across Indiana and Illinois. Vicki Duncan Gardner is vice president of marketing, communications and advocacy at WVPA.
She said generation and transmission cooperatives like WVPA have expertise that can help REMCs navigate the complex electric power system.
Duncan Gardner said Tipmont and its customers will no longer be able to benefit from things like the company’s financial investments, energy efficiency programs, and assistance navigating federal and state laws.
“You know this was a decision made by all parties and we certainly wish them the best," she said.
Duncan Garder said WVPA has kept electric rates relatively low — especially compared to double-digit increases this year at Indiana’s investor-owned utilities.
More than half the country gets its power from electric cooperatives like Tipmont.
Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or on Signal at IPBenvironment.01. Follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.